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English Version 23
Friday 25.04.08
Xi’an
Another long day. Time is limited it seems.
First I go to the supermarket. There’s one at the west gate, where I can
go in 5 min. I have a list of things I have to do or buy, while I’m in
Xi’an. It’s long.
This supermarket isn’t just big, it’s HUGE. I get a good impression of
two stories, but the stairs goes on. Four I think.
I find the clothes pegs, but they don’t sell string! I show them my
clothes pegs, point at my laces and drag them out with my hands and hang
an imaginary piece in the form of a small bag of washing powder on it.
After having been through every single saleswoman in the department for
hardware the conclusion is depressing: Meiyou. Don’t have. I can’t
believe it. They’ve got EVERYTHING. Later one from the hotel accompanies
me to another shop and I get my 6 m green string, which now is hanging
all through my room fastned to an electrical wire in one end and a water
pipe in the other.
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| The citywall is wide as a freeway | View towards the center of Xi'an |
14.30 o’clock
Now I`ve climbed another wall! You might guess which? The city wall of
Xi`an. Like in Pingyao the old wall is still standing - or parts of it
must have been rebuilt, because according to Lonely Planet China it
doesn`t. It`s quite another experience than The great Wall at Simatai.
It`s as wide as two lanes and a shoulder in each direction - around 12 m
the guidebook tells. It`s just flat of course and when you look to the
sides there`s no nature just houses. On the inside lots of beautiful old
style Chinese houses, but mostly new ones. On the outside the
skyscrapers are reaching for heaven. The sky is the limit it seems.
You can hire bicycles here, it`s a mere 14 km to go all the way round.
As I was not allowed to bring my own bike I didn`t rent one. Might also
be good for my legs to do some walking?
I met some Danish people from a larger group on bikes. As they stopped
right in front of me I couldn`t help saying: Oh there are others on
bicycles? In Danish of course. They didn`t pay much attention. One of
the men was wearing a t-shirt which said: I climbed The great Wall, so I
asked them where they`d climbed it? A lady said: Oh, I don`t know, where
was it?
They didn`t know!
I couldn`t help feeling a bit sorry for them. They were like cattle or
sheep being dragged from one eating spot to another. Maybe I sound too
much like a saint? I guess I feel like it too - sorry.
Having walked about 1 km from the entry spot at the south gate I can see
just one person passing me any minute. To the other side they`re just
pixels on a TV-screen. You can be alone here too. Now the guy is gone
but small dots are closing in. Better be on my way!
I walk all the way to the southwest corner. When I`m on my way back I
meet a Chinese woman I passed earlier. Then she was walking backwards as
to find a better spot for a photo. Now she`s STILL walking backwards.
Interesting. There must be some special Chinese culture burried here!
I`ve done it all wrong. Maybe the evil spirits will come haunting me?
Later I go for the The small wild goose Pagoda and The big wild goose
Pagoda. There’s not much to say about it but I’ve grown accustomed to
finding my way and act in the traffic. Almost like a native. But it’s a
long way and I’m not back until 18.15 and have to buy a deodorant and
take a shower before my “date” with Carly.
Another Chinese woman with dreams of something else but the present and
predictable.
I’ve told her I’m a postman and don’t earn much so she leads me to the
muslim quarters, where she knows the right places, and a special
Dumpling-restaurant, where we get what’s called beef and soup. The meat
is frozen when the dough is wrapped around it and that’s why the meat
juice stays in the package. There’s also a bowl of soya sauce. She
teaches me how to do and with the very last dumpling I succeed.
Once more a woman who is extremely open about political stuff. We
discuss the Cultural revolution, when she wasn’t born yet and I hadn’t a
clue about what was really going on. The campaign for extinguishing the
sparrows she’s never heard about, she can’t really believe it, but will
not deny it either. Neither does she know about The big leap Forward.
The evening flys by so quickly. It’s exciting but at the same time
exhausting, because her pronaunciation isn’t as good as Jiayuan’s. From
time to time we have to clear up words and expressions she doesn’t
understand.
The last we come to talk about before she has to go home is her idol!
I’m standing at this point, if not I’d fallen down from the chair: Erwin
Rommel.
She pronounce him “rømmen”, but it IS he. I can’t believe it. Why? She’s
read a lot of books about him – in Chinese. I’m very surprised. And then
I get a lecture on his great skills as a soldier and army commander,
what I don’t doubt, and his resistance against Hitler. I didn’t know
anything else than he’d made life difficult for the allied forces in
North Africa, so I just listen.
In this way it’s almost midnight and I have another address to e-mail.